CRI听力:Kissinger Confident about Obama's Visit to China

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger discusses with former Nixon aide Frank Gannon, details of his latest book, "World Order" during a luncheon at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library on Oct. 22 in Yorba Linda, California. Kissinger has expressed confidence about Obama's current visit to China. [Photo: Imagine China]

Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is expressing confidence about Obama's current visit to China.

"And our leaders are now meeting at this moment, we can say that they embody the hope of the world. I'm confident that this will be a successful visit."

Kissinger's comments have been made during a speech to the year-end gala of the National Committee on US-China Relations in New York.

"When I finished the secret visit, my first visit ever to China and we have finished the communique, Premier Zhou Enlai said to me, these words will shake the world. Now we have a different challenge, now we have the opportunities not to shake the world but to build the world. And we can all dedicate ourselves to this task."

Kissinger holds the distinction of being the first US diplomat to visit China following the creation of the People's Republic in 1949.

His secret visit paved the way for then-President Richard Nixon's historic visit to China in 1972.